Why is Seagate 600 series 256GB SSD only warrantied for ~37TB writes?

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,579
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I don't get it. That's the estimated lifespan of my 30GB OCZ Agility SSD. Surely, a much more modern SSD of a much larger capacity should hande more writes?
 

Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
because you did not reserve more space for OP for that write amplification rate.

take 30% OP and watch that 37T turn into 4 times as much :)
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
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So that they can more easily deny warranty claims, obviously.

The Crucial M500 is for 72TB, for a comparison point (so, if you write over your 960GB about 75 times, there goes your warranty, even though you should have another 1000-2000 times left before the flash gets worn down to its p/e rating).

Since p/e cycle ratings haven't gone down for typical MLC with this last shrink, the geometry bit doesn't hold water.
 

Hellhammer

AnandTech Emeritus
Apr 25, 2011
701
4
81
Deep down this is just OEMs' way to avoid enterprise customers from using consumer drives and force them to buy the more expensive enterprise drives. There is validation involved too but since it's an expensive process, OEMs don't feel the need to validate further than what most consumer workloads need.
 

Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
691
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I agree with Hellhammer. It is mostly an enterprise thing, and they want people who are going to put these in servers to pay the extra money for the drives with better warranties.